The 8 Golden Rules For Website Design
The first major step of conceptualizing a website is the art of composition. Every webpage is unique in some way or the other. To make your webpage stand out and be pleasing to the eye, it needs to have certain basic rules.
Follow these 8 simple rules of composition and personalize your very own website according to your requirements.
Design Rule 1: Keep it simple and clean
The most attractive webpages are the ones that are simple. Making it too complicated would just make viewers run away.
Don’t make your webpage cluttered. Too much information is as bad as too little information. Pick up the most important information and make that your focus point. Anything else that needs to be said, distribute it evenly around it. Don’t load everything on one page. Leave a trail for the viewer to move from one webpage to another.
Design Rule 2: Layout
The layout of any webpage is extremely important. It gives you a basic idea of where elements will be placed. Make a mental and/or a rough layout of how you want your webpage to look like. You can search online for set templates that can give you a rough idea how the page needs to be created.
Design Rule 3: Movement
Every page should make your eyes travel through the various elements of a page to the main focus. Your webpage might have countless images, text etc., but even then you can arrange it in a way that would lead the viewer from one image to another to the final destination. It is an unseen pathway which drives your visitor through the webpage.
The movement on a page is of utmost importance. For example, an image of a man looking towards the right side of the page, while on the right side of the page you have the corresponding content, would nudge you to look at the image and then read the content. But if the man was looking towards the left and no content is there, then your movement would stop there itself.
Design Rule 4: Rule of Thirds
This is a photography rule which is also applicable in design. Rule of thirds tells you where to put your center-piece or your focus to make the photograph more appealing. In website design, this rule should be kept in mind while placing your basic elements. Every webpage has a focus, and the focus should be clear enough for your audience to understand it.
Design Rule 5: Balance
Balance is one of the key components. Your elements on the page have to be properly balanced. Every page is divided into 4 parts, and your elements have to be proportionately placed in each division. You can’t put too much on one side and leave the other side deserted. The weight has to distributed evenly on the whole page.
Design Rule 6: Color
You have two basic colors formats: RBG and CNYK. For websites, RGB is preferred. CNYK is used for printing purposes. One has to remember which colors are complementary while deciding the same for your website.
Design Rule 7: Images Vs. Text
When you CAN use visuals, DON’T use text. Most people find reading strenuous. So replace heavy content with infographics (and other visual cues) to make it more readable. You don’t want to give your visitors a hard time on their very first visit!
Design Rule 8: Space
Believe in white space. The common misconception is to have minimal white space. But the trick is to incorporate white space into the design itself. It gives the viewer a visual relief.
If you want your website to work efficiently, then look for a web host that will suit your needs. If you have a very heavy webpage with a lot of apps, plug-ins and high resolution pictures you can go for a dedicated web hosting service. If you are not looking to spend a lot of money, then you can choose from the cheapest web hosting services available online.
